Finding Home
by Divinitas Intereo
Summary: Ash has just returned home after a solitary 10 year journey. With no one but Pikachu and his other Pokemon as company, he's become a recluse. On his return home, he runs into his Childhood friend Gary who's hosting a party that night. Deciding that it'd be good for him to go, Ash's mother pushes him out the door, and it is at the party that She first sees him.


**Author's Note:**

For anyone wanting to read Pokemon fanfiction that takes place in the canon Pokemon universe, I suggest you stop reading now. Usually, I love writing within canon universes, but while I was reading a host of Pokemon fanfiction, a few of the Alternate Universe stories I read got me thinking about how I would like to place these characters in a different universe and shake up the bottle to see what comes out. This story is the result of that. I should warn you that I haven't followed the series religiously in about eight years, and usually I'm more attuned to writing either Gundam Wing, or Power Rangers fanfiction.

Also, one more thing: I've recently learned the terminology for the shipping in these stories and so you can call this one Pokeshipping. Full on Ash and Misty. I don't know the classifications for other ships out there, and to be honest, I only know a couple of the characters well enough to write them due to some quick bulbapedia research, and because of the other stories I've read while on here. I'm taking things on the fly here, and this story is sprouting out at 5:17 in the AM after a night with no sleep, and a slightly questionable diet of Pizza and Mountain Dew. However I hope you enjoy the story—I don't know how long it's going to be.

If you enjoy it, it'd honor me if you could review it.

Thanks for the time and the read,

Divinitas Intereo

**Reunion**

The sun filled horizon blared over the edge of the research facilities that Gary's Grandfather was renowned for keeping; calls of the various Pokemon that inhabited the "ranch" that the Oak's maintained as their legacy filled the morning air, and Gary couldn't help but think how nice it was to be in one place, able to enjoy all of this. Reflecting back on the days when gallivanting around the Kanto, Orange Island, and Johto districts and meeting beautiful women had been the only thing that kept his interest, a small chuckle escaped while Gary turned around to begin his rounds for the day.

A near on countless number of Pokemon called the Oak's Ranch home these days, and although the occupants of the ranch shifted in and out as their trainers needed them, Gary had become acquainted with most of the Pokemon that regularly inhabited the ranch. Each trainer that had started under his Grandfather, the Senior Professor Oak, had a specific area that Professor Oak designated as their own space for the Pokemon that those trainers would capture. Time and again, the aspiring trainers would stop by to visit their Pokemon, maybe train with them for a bit, or to take instruction from the Oak's and the various aids that accompanied the notable family of Pokemon researchers.

Although, there was the trainer that hadn't returned home since the day he'd left on his Pokemon journey. Rounding out the rounds of checking he had to do on all of the Pokemon, Gary stopped by the impressive section that the Professor had designated for that trainers specific use. Ash Ketchum had been gone from Pallet town for over ten years, and had yet to return; although the results of his journeys were undeniable: Pokemon from every single region flooded the area. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sennoh, Unova, The Orange Islands, anywhere Pokemon could be caught found itself represented in the area that had been hedged out for Gary's childhood friend. Ash had been truly impressive in his journeys, capturing the imagination of some of the people heavily into the trainer's track, but he had remained true to his character.

Whenever Gary had the chance to speak with him through a letter or a phone call, his old friend remained completely oblivious to the world around him: the only thing that mattered to him was the next journey. Occasionally Ash would question him on how things around home were going, but it was only an occasional after thought that drove the questions to be asked. Looking around himself, Gary could see that Ash's thirst for his solitary Pokemon adventure managed to fulfill whatever it was that he seemed to be looking for.

Each Pokemon that showed up at the Oaks lab from Ash always excited Gary's grandfather, due to the fact that it was rare these days if Ash sent a Pokemon that was native to the Kanto region. Traveling in the Unova region, Ash had been sending species after species back—but not for long. He was a very balanced trainer these days, and instead of keeping one solid cast of Pokemon with him at all times, rotated every single Pokemon except for his Pikachu; Gary hadn't been there when Ash had gotten the little rodent, but from what his Grandfather told him, the relationship had been temperamental from the start, and that had only helped the eventual bond that had grown between the two form into what was possibly one of the closest relationships between Pokemon and trainer Oak had ever witnessed.

"And he's still at it."

The morning wasn't lost on Ash's Pokemon as they awoke to the day and started in on their regimens. It was impressive how well they all followed the specified regimens that Ash would send back with them. The Pokemon that Ash caught early on in his journey served as leaders for the newer additions to Ash's family, and helped instruct the newer additions, as Ash needed them too. The implicit trust that Ash managed to build with his Pokemon was nothing short of miraculous.

Walking away from them, Gary looked towards the main building of the entire estate and made his way back. The rounds usually took a good two hours to make, but honestly, they were some of Gary's favorite moments. Although he hadn't completely calmed down from his more youthful days as a trainer evidence of that being the party that he'd planned later on in the evening that had him doing all of his work early, he could see what had managed to make his Grandfather get up every day whenever he was younger: Pokemon and their habits were completely fascinating, and the more that humans could learn about them, the more the interconnections between Pokemon and humans could grow. There was so much to learn about them, and the more Gary learned the more he discovered just how little was known about Pokemon in general.

Smiling at himself, Gary pushed open the door to the research facility.

"...Impressed to see you here. When I last talked to your mother, she told me that you were practically unreachable!"

The enthused sound of Professor Oak's voice reached Gary while he was walking into the door. Setting down the chart that he'd kept with him the entire time, and hanging the white lab coat on the rack beside the door, Gary was about to sit down at his desk to begin imputing the data from his morning round when whoever his grandfather was talking to spoke up.

"I figured it was time for a break; somehow ten years seems like awhile to be away from home, and Mom said that instead of traveling to come see me that I should come home for a change."

Almost jumping up from his desk, Gary did a double take and listened more intently to be sure he was hearing correctly.

"Well, it certainly is a change, that's for sure. Your Pokemon will be ecstatic to see you! I don't think you've managed to spend time with all of them at once have you?"

A little laugh escaped from the visitor as he responded that he'd yet to see all of his Pokemon at once, and at the same time, his Grandfather and the mystery he was talking to rounded the corner. Gary's previous thoughts proved to be correct: Ash Ketchum had finally returned to Pallet town!

"Ah, here we ar—"

"Well if it isn't Ashy boy all growed up and returned home!"

Gary couldn't help but get the same smug tone in his voice that he'd had back when the two of them has been younger. Although, the statement couldn't have been truer; the boy that Gary remembered leaving this place ten years ago, and the man that now stood in front of him were in sharp contrast to one another.

Smiling back at Gary, Ash reached behind his jacket and onto his belt, grabbing a Pokeball from it and enlarging it.

"Wanna test how much I've grown up?"

With a smug smile on his face, Gary almost agreed to it, before laughing and waving down his overeager friend. Standing up from behind the desk, Gary clasped hands with Ash and dragged him into a one armed hug for a moment before letting go and clasping his hand around Ash's neck.

A sharp crackle elicited from somewhere, and it didn't take Gary long to find the source of it. The Pikachu that he'd heard so much about from his Grandfather was walking around on the floor right beside Ash, and from the looks of it, didn't appreciate the way Gary was handling his Trainer.

With a little laugh, Ash waved off Pikachu commenting,

"It's alright Pikachu, Gary's an old friend so he's mostly harmless."

With a smile on his face, the Pikachu backed off, while Gary let go of Ash. It didn't take long for his signature Pokemon to climb up his trainers arm and rest on Ash's shoulder, looking Gary directly in the face.

"Pi Ka"

"Sorry about that, Pikachu's just a little touchy with people he's never met before."

"And who do we have to blame for that I wonder?"

Laughing a little, Ash rubbed the back of his head the way he used to when they were kids and he'd been caught in the act of something.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I meant to come back a lot sooner, but there's just so much to do and see; still so many Pokemon out there that I can't even begin to imagine how many I haven't come across yet!"

Hearing Ash just talking about his desire to travel almost made Gray's feet get itchy, but all it took was one look out the window and already he could feel the draw of the amount of studying he could do from here calm him.

"Yeah, you've sent use some amazing Pokemon over the years: you're travels in Unova have really sparked some excitement around here as well. Not to mention the Pokemon you've caught from all the other regions."

Blushing, Ash looked out the window and towards all the Pokemon he could see outside of it.

"It's been a blast doing so, I've caught a lot of Pokemon, and battled tons of different trainers out there. It's unique to see the different ways people will implement trainers in the different districts. Like the Battle Clubs, or the Coordinating competitions; each district has something new to bring to the table. And it's not just the Pokemon."

"I would venture to guess that's true. Although I don't see how you do it. After my travels, I knew that I wanted to be a Pokemon researcher and came home to Study with Gramps here."

Professor Oak's swelling pride didn't go unnoticed by either of the boys.

"There was so much to do and see that I couldn't bring myself to come back to this place. Competing in the different leagues has been a blast, but after Unova I agreed with mom that coming for a bit to recharge my batteries sounded like a good idea."

"Well, it's been ten years Ash; you're a machine if you only need to recharge once every ten years!" Smiling, the Gary grabbed his lab coat and headed for the door.

"You coming?"

Ash looked back at Gary with a slight look of confusion on his face.

"Where to?"

"You've never seen all of your Pokemon in one place before right? Well, I just saw them not too long ago! I'm pretty sure they'll be ecstatic to know that you're here!"

As Gary had thought, they were ecstatic. Each and every single one of Ash's Pokemon jumped to catch his attention. Every one from his Heracross, to his Charizard garnered for his attention, all while they played excitedly around with one another. Out among them, Gary could tell that Ash felt more at home in their company than he probably would in any other grouping of people, but just the thought of that didn't sit well with Gary.

"Hey Ash!"

Looking up from his Pokemon, the trainer turned away from them and made his way to Gary, most of the Pokemon looking like they wanted to follow, but only Pikachu doing so.

"What's up?"

"I know you're pretty excited about being back here with your Pokemon and all, but later on in the evening I'm throwing a bit of a party. You should come with me, it'll be good for you to be around people for a change."

"I'm around people all the time."

Smirking Gary shook his head,

"Yeah, but it doesn't count if the only words that cross between the two of you are battle commands to your Pokemon."

Looking a little dumbfounded Ash turned around to look at his Pokemon, then turned back to Gary.

"I dunno, it's pretty awesome being here with all of these guys all at once…and I did come back to spend time with both them and my mother."

Target line acquired, Gary smiled.

"Well, it's almost lunch time, why don't we go see your mom; it's been forever since I've been over to your place anyways."

Shrugging, Ash recalled his traveling team, and said a temporary goodbye to his Pokemon. Leading him out of the ranch Gary couldn't help but smile.

"It's so wonderful to have both of you here again!" Delia Ketchum was absolutely glowing. It was easy to see why though, her son had finally returned home, and the woman couldn't honestly be happier from Gary could tell. The moment they had shown up, she had been prepared with a host of things to eat, a lot of different flavored items, in particular the three bottles of ketchup that were at the table. That kind of had Gary wondering if the woman had forgotten how to arrange a meal, but one look at Ash held all the answers.

No sooner than Delia had announced that it was time to eat than did Ash begin flooding his plate with various different types of food. Delia watched with a smile, while Gary could only look on with a mild sense of shock.

"He likes to mix it up, doesn't he?"

With a nervous look that met Mrs. Ketchum's happy smile, Gary only laughed and proceeded to fill his plate. While reaching for a bottle of ketchup, his hand stopped when he heard a crackle of electricity. Turning to look across the table, he noticed that instead of any food on the Pikachu's plate, a Ketchup bottle was sitting in front of him.

"Ka!"

"Yeah, not a good idea Gary. I've got no clue why, but Pikachu has a love affair with Ketchup—it's almost impossible to keep enough of the stuff around."

With another nervous laugh, Gary backed off from the ketchup and instead went for the mustard—it definitely wasn't worth the shock treatment that the obviously insanely high level Pikachu of Ash's was promising.

"So Mrs. Ketchum I was telling Ash earlier that later on I'm having a little party at my place, he wasn't sure if he should go or not due to ju—"

"Oh that sounds fantastic! I was telling Ash earlier that it'd be good if he managed to make some more friends,"

Turning to Ash, Delia smiled,

"Although your Pokemon are fantastic friends dear, you really should try talking to people a bit more."

Gary smiled as Ash found himself caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Sighing, Ash shrugged his shoulders and conceded to the idea with a wave of his hand.

"I've gotta warn you Gary, I'm not really used to going out."

"Pi Pika Pi!"

"Well, yeah, that's always true. You've always got my back buddy."

Almost intrigued enough to ask how Ash could coherently understand his Pikachu so well, Gary shook it off and turned to Mrs. Ketchum,

"Well then, if you don't mind I'll be stealing Ash away for the evening."

"No problem at all,"

Gary could tell that Delia was happy for the rest of the meal while they ate and recounted much older days. It was kind of odd having to dig back in his memory ten years to find ones of the days that he and Ash had spent in their childhood. Of course, intertwined between those Ash would talk about some of the places he'd been, the trainers he'd battled, and even a few of the leagues that he'd managed to come out on top in—he was still the reigning champion of the Orange Island's, something that was impressive to Gary, and he'd managed to be in the Champion battles of both the Sennoh and Unova leagues, only just losing to both of the reigning champions. Although he didn't look too down about it; still, Gary was more than impressed with Ash—that meant he was within the top one percent of trainers around the world.

"Well Ash, as wonderful as catching up with Gary has been, don't you think you should get ready for tonight?"

With an odd look flashed towards his mom, Ash looked down at what he was wearing, then looked over to Gary.

"…I am ready?"

"Ash, sweetie, I know that you've got a very limited wardrobe at the moment but you've got to have something better than your traveling clothes…"

Shaking his head no, Gary couldn't help but laugh a little at the odd situation that Ash found himself in. Patting Ash on the back, Gary stood of from the table and gestured for Ash to do the same.

"I was right, we're near on the same height now. Just go wash up and we can head over to my place a little early—it's one stop over from the ranch so you'll be able to spend a little bit more time with your Pokemon before the start of the party and I can lend you something to wear that doesn't look like it's been across four continents."

Excited at the prospect of seeing his Pokemon together in one place again, Ash jumped up with a quick, "Come on Pikachu!" before the two of them headed up the stairs. Watching him go, Gary sat back down to relax a little while Ash washed up.

"Gary?"

Turning over to look at Delia, Gary gave her his full attention.

"Please look after Ash tonight; I know you'll be busy having fun and enjoying being young, but we both know that aside from the contact Ash has with the two of us, he's never really managed to make friends other than his Pokemon. I know it's an odd request, but please look out for him?"

Losing his usual reassuring smile, Gary nodded with more of a serious tone to himself. Delia hit the nail on the head when it came to knowing her son. Sure, Ash was a brilliant trainer, but Gary had noticed that even when he was talking about his adventures he had to depend a little on his Pikachu to help steer the conversation along. That bond was completely unique, but Delia was also right in saying that Ash really did need to make some human friends. Although, Gary could only guess how hard that would be for a man who spent most of his childhood and all of his teen years traveling the world alone.

"Alright, we're all set!"

Looking up at Ash, Gary nodded and made his way to the door with his recently returned friend. If nothing else, tonight was promising to be interesting.

**First Glance**

"Well, this seems like it's going to be a fun gathering…" Looking at all the people around them, Misty could only agree with the sentiment that Brock shared. Somehow or another, Gary had managed to convince most of the friends he'd made on their Pokemon journey to come to the party that he was hosting tonight in the Oak's mansion. The success of the Oak's was something very well known, but Misty was still a little surprised at just how wealthy the elderly professor and his Grandson were.

"Almost reminds me of the party on Shamoti Island; remember that awesome feast and those girls dancing!" As Brock took a small trip down memory lane, Misty had half a mind to pull him by his ear just for old times sake. Traveling the Orange Island's with Gary, Brock, and Tracey had been one of Misty's favorite adventures, and of course she couldn't forget Melody—the girl who had made all the wrong assumptions about the relationship between her and Gary. Honestly.

"Well, I certainly remember Gary having a good time on that island." It wasn't a joke, the now aspiring professor had just gotten rid of the cheerleading squad that followed him around everywhere; however it would be a few more years before Gary's hormones settled down enough to allow for him to have a decent friendship with a woman other than Misty. Putting up with the hopeless Brock, and the over confident Gary on their journeys' had almost driven Misty insane!

Looking around her now, Misty was happy to note that a bunch of faces she actually recognized. Standing on the other side of the room, she managed to see May and her younger brother Max chatting with away with Dawn, Drew wasn't too far away, seemingly lost in conversation with Paul. A little ways away from them, Todd and Ritchie were having a pretty interesting conversation, while Sparky sat on Ritchie's shoulder.

Countless people from their journey's were here, Tracey had literally just walked in the door from Professor Oak's Laboratory, the white lab coat he was wearing being a dead give away, and Misty could already see her sister Daisy coming down on him for being late. All in all, it looked to be a fun little get together that was going on, but Finally spotting Gary, she walked over and hit him on the Arm, Brock in tow.

"You know, it's pretty rude when two of your oldest friends show up at a party, and you don't even bother to say hello to them!"

Turning around to face her, she noticed that Gary barely registered that she had spoken, his eyes in constant search from someone.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Looking at her, Misty noted that his eyes were still searching for someone.

"Damn, I'm sorry Mist! Have you seen a guy walking around with a Pikachu?"

Giving Gary a puzzled look she looked behind her to where Ritchie was animatedly talking with Todd.

"Uhh, Gary, think maybe you should look into getting contacts or something? Ritchie is right behind me…"

Looking behind her, he hit his head.

"I almost forget that guy was here, although I did become friends with him in the first place because he reminded me of him a little…"

Finally growing a little annoyed, Misty grabbed Gary by the collar and shook him.

"What are you babbling on about!"

Without even being phased by her shaking Gary moved her hands off of his collar with a quick,

"Sorry Misty, I'll make it up to you in a little, right now I've got to find him!"

"Urh, who the hell is he talking about!"

Turning around she saw that May and Dawn were both walking up to her.

"Gary troubles?"

"Like you wouldn't believe May, apparently he's gone and lost an entire person, although you would think the days where he was egotistical enough to forget about an entire person were gone, it seems he's proven us wrong again."

"Oh come on Misty, you know it's honestly nothing like that!"

And as much as Misty wanted to disagree with Dawn, she knew that Dawn was probably right.

"Any idea what's got him so worked up?"

Shrugging, it wasn't until Brock walked over that the girls looked up.

"From what I've managed to gather, Gary has a friend coming over that none of us have met."

Intrigued, and under the assumption that she'd met all of Gary's friends, Misty looked over at Brock.

"How's he managed to keep a friend that he's this worried over a secret from us?"

"May not be a secret friend, maybe they rarely see one another?"

Nodding at May, Misty started looking around the room again when a loud, 'THERE YOU ARE!" pierced the room. Turning around and looking at the front door, Misty was greeted to the view of Gary walking threw a group of people to make it to the person who'd just walked into the door, although she was unable to see who it was due to the other people in the way.

"What are you wearing? What happened to the stuff I lent you earlier!"

Getting close so she could hear what whomever Gary was talking to was saying Misty came in during the middle while he was talking.

"…and because of that water gun I figured I'd better go home and change. Sorry for being late."

"Jeez Ketchum, you're still hopeless!"

Getting her first view of Gary's mysterious friend, Misty found him oddly curious. A Red Pokemon League hat was on his head covering his eyes from her view due to the fact that he had his head down a little. He was wearing a red vest over a white t-shirt that looked a little worse for wear, along with the blue jeans and sneakers he had on. He was around the same height as Gary, and on his shoulder, surprisingly enough, was a Pikachu.

Turning around, she spotted Ritchie across the room still talking to Todd before she turned back with a slight,

"Oh, so he doesn't need contacts…"

With a shy smile on his face, Gary' friend walked into the house proper, along with Gary.

"Alright, everyone listen up! This here is my childhood buddy, his name's Ash. He's been away on his Pokemon journey for about ten years and this is his first time home in awhile! I figured I'd show him a good time here, so don't be afraid to come on up and get to know Ashy boy here a little better!"

Everyone acknowledged Gary's friend Ash for a moment before turning back to the conversations they had been having before.

"Alright Ash, you're on your own for a little, get out there and make some friends."

With a slight shove from Gary, the man caught himself as he was walking forward a little. Looking around him self, Misty could almost swear he looked lost. Following him with her eyes as he moved out of the center of the house, she spotted him taking a turn into the living room. With a momentary hope that he'd manage to talk to someone, Misty turned around to be greeted by Brock.

"Wow, someone who was on a constant journey for ten years—that's a long time. Then again, by the looks of his clothes, he must have just gotten back here today or something. Although what really interested me was the Pikachu."

Looking up at Brock, Misty eyed him for a second.

"Why's that?"

"It's literally a prime example of its species from what I could catch of it. The vibrant color of it's yellow, how easily it managed to balance itself on that guys shoulders, and the red of its cheeks? Definitely a top class specimen, that's for sure."

Rolling her eyes at Brock's tangent into his breeder's personality, Misty walked over to May and Dawn.

"So guys, how have things been?"

**Introduction**

"Maybe this was a bad idea after all…"

The stars above Pallet town filled the night sky, as Ash looked up at them, he couldn't help but smile at all the memories he'd had under the sky in the Kanto region. He'd seen a lot of skies in his travels, but this one brought back a host of memories to come with it.

It hadn't taken long for Ash to feel like he was suffocating inside of Gary's place. True, it was a very big house, but for the past ten years he hadn't slept steadily inside of a building. Instead, the forest, open roadsides, and various Pokemon centers around the world had been all Ash had known. It wasn't the amount of strangers that bothered him either; as a traveling trainer running into scores of people you didn't know was just a fact of life. What got to him was that everyone in there knew each other. They all shared memories of shared adventures, of places they had been together, and some how Gary knew every single person in that room. It was a little much for Ash to wrap his head around.

Sure, there were a couple of people that he could remember and name from his journey if he had to, but his main concern and concentration on his Pokemon quest had always been the partners he'd gathered along the way. Smiling rather nostalgically, Ash rubbed the Pokeballs that were attached to his belt. When he had gone to Professor Oak's lab after changing into the clothes he was supposed to be wearing, he'd switched out his Pokemon for the first full-assembled team he'd managed to gather, except for his Butterfree... Having his oldest friends with him in the first district he journeyed was a bit of a relief for Ash, and so as he breathed in the night air all he could do was lay back on the grass and look at the stars.

"Pikachu pi! Pika Pika chu."

Turning to look at the little yellow mouse, Ash couldn't help but smile at him.

"You're right Pikachu, it feels weird being back…home?"

Did that word really have a meaning for him?

"And he fell face first right into a pile of Rapadash shit!"

All around people were laughing at the humiliation that Misty had just unleashed about Gary's past as a traveling trainer. The object of the story was sitting down with both of his hands covering his face.

"I can't believe you actually told that story."

"What could I do? It was too good an opportunity to resist."

The party was now in full swing, and it had been for several hours. From what Misty could tell of it, it was a huge success. Looking around, everyone was having a fantastic time. Ritchie was now chatting it up with Max, while Todd was talking with Lilly, and Violet was managing to keep up with May, while she was still dragging Drew around, which naturally managed to have Paul and Dawn in the same area.

Around them, Brock, Tracey, Todd and Suzy were gathered with a number of other friends they'd met throughout their journey. In the middle Gary was sitting down, still embarrassed about the revealing story that Misty had just told about him.

Wasn't there someone missing though?

Looking around, it finally clicked who was missing.

"Hey, Gary—what happened to your friend?"

Suddenly jumping up from where he was sitting, Gary looked all around in a bit of a panic before he moved away from the couch.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!"

Following behind Gary, Misty could see that he was honestly upset with himself.

"Gary, what's going on with that guy anyways? I haven't seen him since you introduced him to all of us."

Turning around while still walking around looking for Ash, Gary stopped in front of Misty.

"Well, to make an incredibly long story short: Ash sucks at connecting with humans. Remember how I mentioned he'd been on a Pokemon journey for the past ten years?"

Nodding, Gary continued his story,

"Well, during his entire trip the only company Ash managed to gather was the Pokemon that he caught. From what I understand from his letters, and odd post cards every now and again, he didn't really make any friends along the way. The past ten years Ash has been traveling, he's spent it traveling alone."

A lot of things clicked into place for Misty as she listened to Gary. For one, now she knew why Ash had looked lost when Gary left him by himself…

"Why would you leave that guy by himself if you knew all this!?"

"I'm a Pokemon researcher, not a psychologist! I thought it would encourage Ash to talk to someone if I left him alone. There are enough trainers and other Pokemon related individuals here to justify him being able to have a conversation here."

"Great Gary, now I feel like a jack ass for not going up and talking to him when you introduced him to all of us!"

"Well, why didn't you? I practically begged all of you to come and talk to him."

Scratching at her head in a manner that she hadn't done in what felt like forever, Misty turned away from Gary and began stomping away. Honestly, she had thought that someone would go up and talk to Ash, apparently she'd been very wrong.

"Where are you going?"

"To help you find what's his name!"

"Ash! His name is Ash!"

"I don't give a shit, you're a dick!"

"Thank you!...I think?"

How long had it been since he'd actually left the party? Ash didn't have a clue. Looking down the hill towards where Gary's house was, a tinge of guilt crawled up his spine because he left without letting Gary know. Sitting here with his various Pokemon as they all fell asleep, Ash couldn't help but be oddly content where he was. All around them, the friend's he'd made during his travels were finally together with him at once: this was something he probably should have done a long time ago.

"Pika, Pipi a pika pi chu…"

"I agree a hundred percent buddy, this feels more like home than even the house does…"

Lying back in the grass, Ash closed his eyes and let the slow lulling of the Pokemon around him drift within him. This felt right, being under the night sky with nothing but Pokemon surrounding him. Although coming to see all his Pokemon at once was not a mistake, maybe coming back here was? He wasn't sure—but Ash was sure of one thing that both his Mom and Gary were right about: he had no clue how to act around other people.

But maybe that was okay? After all, his entire life now comprised of being around Pokemon and training with them…there were always new challenges to face, trainers who were just as good as members of the elite four, and mysteries all over the place to solve.

The life of an adventurer was what Ash was craving at the moment, and even though he was laying down he had half a mind to get up, pay a quick visit to his mom, and then get back on the road heading somewhere far off, going as far as his legs could take him tonight. That sounded refreshing…

Abnormal movement in the grass caught Ash's ears, causing him to want to open his eyes, but he kept them shut. It wasn't the sound of a Pokemon moving along in the grass…he'd long sense memorized how Pokemon liked to pattern their way when moving around at night—besides, these footsteps were far too clumsy and not really caring where they were stepping. Snapping his fingers once, four of his nearest Pokemon stood at the ready, several of them already charging some of their most powerful attacks. Jumping up from where he was, Ash caught his balance and came face to face with a red headed girl, her green eyes almost bulging due to the fact that Charizard, Bayleaf, Arcanine, and Pikachu all looked ready to attack. Holding up his hand, they all stood down.

Misty's heart stopped the instant that the four Pokemon jumped up with all of their main attack points aimed at her. The snap she'd heard before had caught her completely off guard, and she couldn't do anything but stand as still as possible, hoping that the oddly angered Pokemon would calm down. It didn't take another moment though, before someone jumped up and was staring Misty right in the eyes. For some reason, the brown eyes that stared into hers were cold for a moment before vague recognition filled Ash's eyes. Holding up his hand, his Pokemon immediately went back to what they had been doing before the snap had occurred.

Looking around at all of them, Misty was a little amazing. Charizard, Arcanine, and Bayleaf were usually exceptionally hard Pokemon to have under such complete control, but by just holding up his hand Ash had managed to take them from a rage state to a completely calm state? That was impressive.

"Sorry about that, not used to someone sneaking up, and if someone has done it, it was never for a good reason."

Looking around herself a little more before giving her full attention to Ash, while exhaling a little she responded back,

"Oh…No, no problem at all…"

"Gary noticed I left?"

Ash shocked her by plopping himself back down onto the ground, oddly rough before he hit though, his Charizard's tale reached out and stopped his fall, laying him gently on the ground. Walking a little closer, Misty looked down at him.

"Well, to say that there's a bit of a frantic search party going on for you right now would be a bit of an understatement."

When a little laugh escaped from his mouth, Misty looked at him confused.

"What's so funny?"

"I didn't think Gary would care that much."

Sitting down beside him and holding her knees to her chest, Misty looked up at the sky that Ash's eyes hadn't left yet.

"Why would you think that, I though the two of yo—" She was interrupted by a crackling sound. Immediately turning to her right, she saw the Pikachu from earlier eyeing her.

"She's alright buddy—she's just doing Gary a favor."

No sooner than Ash spoke, than did Pikachu back down. Giving a little call to Ash, it ran over and cradled itself under his arm, rolling up, but leaving it's head out and keeping it's eyes on Misty.

"I thought Gary would chalk it up to me being me."

"Maybe he thought you had up and left again."

The joke inside of her words almost made Misty chuckle, looking back down at him, she caught the look in Ash's eyes. Why was that there?

"I considered it…"

What?

"You considered what?"

"I was thinking about stopping over to say goodbye to my mom, and then heading out of Pallet Town. "

She couldn't help it; Misty found that she was completely intrigued by his answer.

"Isn't this your home though?"

"So they tell me."

For a moment, Misty let herself think about what it would be like if all she'd ended up doing was traveling around the world all by herself. If she hadn't met Gary when he almost accidentally ran over her and instead had gotten her bike. If Brock hadn't decided to join Gary on his journey after the two of them had battled in Brocks Gym. Looking at it from Ash's point of view, the world seemed like an extremely lonely place.

"You don't seem to have trouble talking right now."

A small chuckle escaped Ash, and for a moment Misty actually let herself see where she was. The night sky was shining overhead; the only light that was causing the shining was the silver moon as it shone down on them. Behind and all around her, the sounds that she only took as ambient noise became the individual calls and sound of each of the Pokemon around her. Grass hinted at her, along with the smells of a million different things; each and every sense experienced something new and different. Even though she'd been in much wilder places that the Oak's Ranch, for the first time she was actually letting herself experience everything as much more than just the background.

"When I'm out here, it's not so hard…"

"That sounds so lonely…I mean, having no one you know around."

Sitting up, Ash looked right at Misty.

"I've never been alone, Pikachu and the rest of these guys have been with me the rest of the time."

"But they're Pokemon; I understand having a bond with them and everything, having one with people is good too though."

"I've never seen much of a difference. Pokemon, people: they're all the same to me."

"Doesn't it get lonely not having anyone to talk to?"

"Pika!"

Looking down at the Pikachu, Misty was surprised to see him standing defensively beside Ash.

"Pikachu's right, I've always had him to talk to. His company's better than some I've seen along the way."

Misty didn't have a clue how to argue that one. Aside from the close core group of friends that they had made over their journey, she found most people either annoying, or just plain rude. How must everyone at the part seem to Ash after no one probably bothered to talk to him?

"Not all of us are so bad…"

"Maybe, but I didn't know what to do with myself in there."

"Did you ever think about trying to talk to anyone?"

That sounded like a crappy answer, even to her.

"I just realized I don't know your name."

"It's Misty."

"That's unique."

"So's Ash."

Another chuckle escaped from Ash's lips.

"What's so funny?"

"You know my name."

"Why's that funny."

Looking up at her, Ash gave her a very obvious look that caused her to blush. Right: the ten years alone thing.

"So what do you plan on doing?"

" If I knew that I wouldn't be sitting here."

Misty didn't know how to feel, or how she wanted herself to feel. Some of the things he was saying irritated her for some reason, and other things Ash would say would make her think about the way she saw things. True, he made no real effort to talk to anyone back at the part, but then again did he even know how to talk to people?

"How often did you talk to someone while you were away?"

"Aside from my mom, Gary, and Professor Oak, you're on you're way to becoming a person I talk to regularly."

"Because of one conversation?"

"More than most."

She couldn't help it. Misty started laughing, almost uncontrollably.

"So why didn't you ever bother trying to make friends? And how is it that Gary and the rest of us didn't run into you while you were in the Indigo League?"

"It's a bit of a story."

"I've got time."

"What about Gary and the party?"

"I have a nagging feeling that you may be gone before the party is; and Gary will always be there."

She had no clue where it came from, but there was something that was drawing Misty to Ash. Staring into those brown eyes for a moment, she saw the second he relented to telling his story.

"The first day of my journey wasn't the greatest start."

"Pika pi…"

The confused look on Misty's face probably gave her away to Ash, because it didn't take too long for him to translate.

"He's apologizing, even though he knows he doesn't need to."

"Apologizing for what?"

"The reason it wasn't such a great start was that Pikachu didn't like me at first. He doesn't like Pokeballs either, which is why he's never in his."

Misty nodded at that. It must have something to do with some Pikachu's then, because Sparky was the same way.

"Because of this, I had to tie a string around him and drag him the first day. Along the way we ran into a wild Pidgey; since Pikachu didn't want to help me battle it, I tried to capture it without his help. One of the rocks that I thought I had thrown at said Pidgey ended up hitting a Spearow. Before either of us knew what was going on, we were both being chased by these Searow and Fearow."

It sounded like a horrifying situation. There were a couple of times where she'd been in a Jam with Gary and Brock, but at least they'd always had their Pokemon standing behind them. Without anyone to help him, Ash had ended up in this situation?

"What happened?"

"We got messed up, bad. They chased us onto a nearby cliff, I tried to talk Pikachu into getting in his Pokeball, and then turned around to confront the Pokemon coming at us, it was stormy already, and the ground was slippery. The swooped down for a final assault, Pikachu jumped out from behind me, got struck by lightning and blasted them with a massive thunder bolt. In turn, he also got me, and basically anything else around us, including himself. We ended up falling into the river and floating until a random fisher found us. Not knowing where else to take us, he dragged both of us to the nearest Pokemon center. From what they tell me, I was out for a few days—almost drowned and all that. Due to the Pokedex I got from Professor Oak, they were able to contact my mother. She came to the city for a little and rented out a room while I got better. Most of the time the Indigo league was going on I was hospitalized; Pikachu and I became great friends though and still headed out on our journey, even though we probably weren't going to meet the deadline."

"I'm guessing you didn't?"

"Not exactly. I did the best I could to make up for lost time. Catching and training as I went along. I passed through Cerulean and got my badge there without a sweat."

"You went to the Cerulean Gym?"

"Yeah, I battled some gym leader named Daisy, although it wasn't much of a battle to be honest—she said it had to be over before the next show."

Misty couldn't help it; she twitched.

"Daisy at least put up a strong fight, didn't she?"

"I think she may have tried, but by this point, Pikachu was more than enough to sweep her entire team of Pokemon."

The inner letdown that she felt at her sister's prowess as a trainer back then really got to Misty.

"Something wrong?"

"I'll tell you about it later, continue the story?"

"Well, after that I went to Pewter and battled some old guy named Flint, his Pokemon were impressive, but my Squirtle was more than enough for those rock Types, and Charmander nearly incinerated the entire gym when that battle happened."

Happy that it was nighttime, Misty couldn't help but twitch again. Brock wouldn't be so happy to hear about this depiction of how his Gym had been ran while his dad was the Gym Leader.

"So, why didn't you make it? It sounded like you were right on track to join the Indigo League."

Ash looked up at the stars and smiled.

"I was. Unfortunately the final Gym I had prepared to visit was the Gym in Viridian, but when I got there I found the place abandoned and nearly in rubble. I went inside to see if it was just a look the gym leader liked to have, but there was no one there. I was already at the deadline, and Cinnibar Island was too far away for me to make, so I didn't gather 8 badges in time to register for the Indigo league."

A few memories came back to Misty about the Gym in Viridian…one's that weren't so great due to the fact that Gary nearly had to crawl out of that Gym, and because he claimed that what he'd battled in there wasn't a Pokemon, but rather some type of monster.

"The Gym at Viridian…it wasn't a good place."

"Yeah, I know. While I was in Viridian I heard rumors of the trainers that went there facing some monster. Because the gym was in complete ruin I wa—"

"What do you mean by that? The gym looked like one of the best looking gyms to me whenever we stopped by it."

"I mean the pace was falling apart. Which is what incited me to go hunting the rumors that said the Pokemon there had escaped."

Misty's head jumped up.

"You went looking for that thing!"

"I couldn't resist the challenge. I traced it all the way to Cerulean city—the Pokemon was on a rampage in the city. Following up on rumors I heard I met it in the cerul—"

"I KNOW THIS STORY!"

Looking up at Misty, Ash could only blink in surprise at her outburst.

"You do? How?"

"My sisters…they're the former Gym Leaders of the Cerulean Gym. They took over for me when I went on my trip with Gary, but the point is that they told me that a monster Pokemon went on a rampage in the city for a while, and then for some reason, it stopped and never came back."

Ash nodded his head.

"Sounds about right."

"Why's that?"

"I caught it."

Did she hear that right?

"You what?!"

"I caught Mewtwo."

What in the world was a Mewtwo?

"I don't understand."

Smiling, Ash stood up and reached for a Pokeball from his belt. Noting that it was the only one there, Misty gave it a confused look. Her eyes then widened realizing that the ball wasn't just any ordinary Pokeball, but a Master ball. Watching as Ash threw the ball, and as a Pokemon formed out of it, Misty couldn't take her eyes off of it.

_This is unique. I'm rarely called out of my dreams._

Misty couldn't help but look around her, trying to find the voice that was speaking.

"Sorry."

"Wha—who's talking?"

_I am._

Looking directly at Mewtwo, the Pokemon looked into Misty's eyes. Staring back at the Pokemon, Misty couldn't help but notice an unparalleled intelligence in the Pokemon's eyes that she had almost never seen in any other Pokemon's eyes before this.

"You're a Pokemon though!"

"That's true, But Mewtwo is probably the most powerful Psychic Pokemon in existence."

"How…?"

_I was not born into this world by normal means. _

"What do you mean?"

_I was artificially created, a clone of the Pokemon Mew, for a time I thought myself the most powerful Pokemon in existence… Ash and Pikachu proved that the bond between trainer and Pokemon was exceptionally powerful, and through their bond, my bond with him was possible._

Misty didn't know what to do, looking at Mewtwo; she was severely impressed by his imposing figure. Everything about Mewtwo screamed power, unrivaled, and unmatched. She had no idea how to respond to anything he had just said.

"Enough for one night."

Nodding Mewtwo stood still while Ash pulled out the Masterball and recalled Mewtwo. Just who was this guy!?

"…How are you not a Champion with Mewtwo in your pocket?"

"I never 'use' Mewtwo for official matches. The reason he's with me is because of our mutual dislike for Team Rocket."

"Ran into those guys too?"

A small smile appeared on Ash's face for the first time.

"You could say that."

"Yeah, they disappeared a while back; I wonder what happened to them?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Ash stood up from where he was. Jumping up, the Pikachu that was beside him jumped onto his shoulders and rested there without a thought in the world, almost falling back to sleep from the way it looked to Misty.

"Leaving?"

Looking down at her, he smirked once.

"You came to bring me back to the party, didn't you?"

Oh god! How long had she been out here with him? Had she even messaged Gary to let him know that she'd found Ash? Getting up immediately, Misty looked down towards the party, a couple of cars were gone, and she couldn't really make out whose. It was one way to loose track of time.

"Aren't you going to recall the rest of your Pokemon?"

"They can stay here for the night, they've never all been together."

Shrugging her shoulders, Misty began walking down the path to Gary's place.


End file.
